Joe Bonamassa "British Blues Explosion Live" (2018)

Every great guitarist has heroes, and the smart ones never forget where they came from. On "British Blues Explosion Live," Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to three of his biggest - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page - the players who took American blues, ran it through a stack of British amplifiers and changed rock music forever. It's fitting that all three passed through the Yardbirds at one point or another, and Bonamassa digs into the classics from their remarkable careers with obvious affection and serious firepower. Recorded in July 2016 at Greenwich Music Time, set against the stunning backdrop of the Old Royal Naval College in London, the show brings these songs right back to the city where so many of them were born. Bonamassa leads a five-piece band stacked with heavyweight talent: Michael Rhodes on bass, former Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboardist Reese Wynans, longtime Letterman drummer Anton Fig and Russ Irwin on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. This isn't a note-for-note copy job. Bonamassa respects the originals while bringing enough of his own voice to make them feel fresh. Learning from the masters is how every guitarist starts, but turning that education into something personal is what separates the students from the artists. Here, Bonamassa shows he's firmly in the second group.